Found
by Karistar345
Summary: Ever wondered what it would be like to suddenly wake up to a world that you thought only existed in books or movies? Well, I did. Until it actually happened. This is the story of how my two friends and I wound up in Middle Earth, alone, not knowing what had happened and how we made the best of it. With a little help, that is.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

This one is a rather fantastic tale about magic and elves and Middle Earth and three girls who had their lives upended out of the blue for no apparent reason. Of course, Middle Earth and elves and magic all only exist in Tolkien's books, so there's no way this tale is true. If that's what you want to believe, go ahead. It's easier to believe that. At the beginning, I certainly wished I could.

Anyway, so my name is Robin and I'm from Texas (no, that's not really important, but I'm proud of it). I'm not going to tell you my last name, because it doesn't really matter. I never really used it after all this happened anyway. So, I was 27 years old and I had just graduated (from a pretty good school) with a PhD in set theoretic topology (you don't actually have to know what that is, but please don't mention topography…they are NOT related, not really anyway). And I was about to embark on the journey of my life with my two best friends in the world, Crystal and Nikki. Nikki and I (and Nikki's six year old son, Andy) were settling into the small apartment in Seoul (South Korea, in case anyone was wondering) that Crystal had found for us all. I was going to be teaching math in English at a really prestigious school in Gangnam, Crystal was about to start a new nursing job at a huge hospital not three blocks from my school, and Nikki was going to be working with a Taekwondo master in the countryside (she was only going to be staying with us for a few weeks before heading out to her dream job). Everything was going to be awesome. Until that morning when we woke up, only God knows where, and…well, here's what happened:

My first thought was that I must have accidentally left the window open, because there was a very cold draft blowing across my bare face. But as I started to wake up, I began to notice some very strange things. First, I was not in my bed. I had to have been lying on some extraordinarily soft blankets on a very hard floor. A hard, lumpy floor with a lumpy pillow. Definitely not my Tempur-pedic pillow. Second, I was wearing strange clothes that were not my pajamas. They were warm and soft and practical. So not what I would have worn to bed. Third, it was the end of summer, so Korea was still really hot. And our air conditioning was not that good.

I opened my eyes to see trees and snow instead of my ceiling. That's when I really knew something was wrong. I sat up and looked around in shock. Where was our apartment? Why was there a forest here? And what time was it? It was so murky that I couldn't tell if it was day or night. Maybe there was no difference in this forest. There was a fire pit that had burned down to embers in the night and still gave off enough warmth that I didn't feel like I was actually freezing to death. But Nikki and Crystal had to be miserable.

Looking down, I saw that I wasn't wrapped in blankets after all, but a super soft and warm sleeping bag with the fire pit to my right. Across from me on the other side of the fire pit, Crystal was sleeping in an identical sleeping bag, using a pack that I had never seen before as a pillow. Her long dark brown hair was covering her face, so her pale skin was at least a little protected from the cold. Another quick glance downward showed that I had been using a pack just like it for my pillow. No wonder it was lumpy. I looked for Nikki and Andy, but they were nowhere to be seen. Hopefully they were still in the apartment. And in Korea. 'Cause there was no way we were in Korea with how cold it was. Even I was uncomfortably cold. And I loved the cold.

We must've been out there for a while, 'cause my ears felt completely frozen. I dug around in my sleeping bag and pack until I found a soft, white hat and sighed at the immediate relief when I slipped it on. That was one thing taken care of. Now I just had to figure out where we were, how we had gotten there, and how to get back to where we were supposed to be. First things first, though. I had to wake up Crystal.

"Psst. Crystal. Wake up."

She groaned and rolled over. Of course that didn't work. Crystal was not a morning person. If it even was morning. I scooted close enough that I could prod her with a nearby stick I found.

"Chanders. Wake up. Something's wrong." (For those of you wondering, I call Crystal 'Chanders' (pronounced Shanders) sometimes. It comes from the day I first met her. I thought her full sounded like Crystal Chandelier. But Chandelier was a little too long, so I shortened it to Chander and then added the 's' to the end for fun.)

There must've been something alarming in my voice, because she nearly jumped out of her sleeping bag.

"Wha-what's going on? Where are we?"

"That's what I wanna know. Last thing I remember was climbing into my bed. And I'm guessing by your reaction that you don't remember getting here, either."

She shook her head. "Man, it's cold."

"Check and see if there's a hat in your pack. It helps."

"My pack?"

"What you've been using as a pillow."

"I don't remember packing this."

"I don't remember ever seeing any of this before. Somehow, we're decked out in camping gear and in the middle of a freezing cold forest with no idea how we got here or where we are."

"Looks like it."

"Any ideas?"

"Maybe someone drugged us, kidnapped us, drug us out here and left us for dead."

"With all this gear?" I emptied my pack onto the ground. In the pile was pretty much anything we could need to survive in the woods on our own. There was even toilet paper. "No one would have packed all this stuff for us if they wanted to hurt us. Look, there's even a crank powered cell phone charger." I found my phone in my sleeping bag and was not surprised when I didn't have signal or Wi-Fi. "Do you have any signal?"

Crystal looked around for her phone and quickly sighed in disappointment. "No. And my battery's almost dead."

"Your battery's always almost dead. We have a charger." I handed the charger to her and she started cranking away.

"Who on earth would have thought to pack all this stuff for us? They thought of everything. There's even a change of clothes here." She dug around in her pack and held up a shirt that would have maybe fit on one of the dolls I had as a child (she's pretty tiny for her height). "It looks like it'll fit, too."

"Forget that." I had just thought of something terrifying. "Who changed us? And what did they do to us while we were out?" Crystal and I shared a horrified look. I didn't feel any different. And what I could see of myself looked normal.

"Surely nothing happened. Right?"

I shrugged. It was better just to think that. "Right. Well. We have these really warm clothes and stuff. So whoever put us out here meant to give us a chance. Let's pack up and see what we can find out here."

The worst part of breaking camp was figuring out how to stuff all the stuff I had dumped on the ground (which I was really regretting by that time) back in the pack that suddenly seemed much to small for all of it. It took at least ten minutes and all the OCD organization skills I could muster to get it all back in. Never again, I swore, would I take anything out of that pack. It was just too much effort to get it back in again.

We rolled up our sleeping bags, tied them onto our packs, and covered the fire pit with snow. Then I remembered why I had never been camping before. Not real camping anyway. I had been momma-camping. You know, with a cabin with electricity, running water, Wi-Fi, and my own room. That kind of camping. But we didn't have anything except what we were carrying on our backs. There was no water to wash or brush our teeth in, and no toilet. And I was not prepared to answer nature's call out in the woods, toilet paper or no toilet paper.

We stood around the remains of our fire pit for a few minutes, both of us staring into space. "So…" I broke the silence. "What direction should we go?"

"Well, it would help if we knew where we are."

"But since we don't?"

"I guess any direction's good. We're bound to run into somebody."

"Sure we are. Because, we totally couldn't be in the middle of some frozen forest, hundreds of miles away from any civilization."

"You have any better ideas?"

"Nope. Lead the way. Hopefully we find them soon, 'cause I'm hungry and I don't remember seeing food in that pack." So, whoever packed for us had forgotten one tiny little thing: food. It's not like food is _that_ important, anyway. Ha ha ha ha. I crack myself up sometimes.

Crystal just shook her head and started off, occasionally glancing down at the compass she had found in her pack. I didn't even look to see what direction we were going. With what little information we had, she was right; any direction was just as good as any other.

As the day (again, I only _thought_ it was daytime) wore on, I was really glad for the warm, fur lined boots I was wearing. They were pretty comfortable to walk in and kept the moisture from the snow out. If I had been wearing my usual flats, I would have been completely miserable. As it was, I was only half miserable. See, I start every day with a shower and at least a little breakfast (my favorite is chicken nuggets and sweet tea from Chick-fil-A and if you've never eaten there, you're missing out). So, with no shower and no breakfast, I was feeling pretty disgusting and hungry. Not to mention, glum from the lack of light. There was enough light that filtered down from the trees and reflected off the snow to see directly in front of us, but we couldn't see very far in any direction. And let me tell you, after walking for hours (I kept checking my phone to see how much time had lapsed since the last time I checked it…usually about ten minutes) in the cold and dark, while dirty and hungry is boring. Really boring. And Crystal was being really quiet. She did that sometimes. She would go off into her own little world, just staring into space. Sometimes she made up stories; sometimes she just let her mind wander. But, I knew better than to try to talk to her when she was like that. She just didn't hold up her end of the conversation very well when she was in that mood.

After a while, we started seeing spider webs everywhere. On the trees, in the underbrush, and even some truly giant ones hung between trees that we had to go around because neither of us wanted to get sticky stuff all over us. At least our compass kept us heading in the same direction every time we had to make a detour. As we kept walking, the spider webs grew thicker and thicker, until they covered nearly everything around us. I was just starting to really worry that we were headed into something bad, when Crystal stopped so suddenly in front of my that ran smack into her.

"What is it?"

"I thought I saw something."

"Where?"

"Over there." She pointed off to her right and I strained my eyes in the direction of her finger. With the light being as dim as it was and the spider webs everywhere, I couldn't see much. But, there was definitely something there. Something huge. And creepy. Did I mention it was creepy? I'm kind of a pansy when it comes to creepy. I don't do creepy. But Crystal? Crystal loves creepy. She walked over to the big shape and gasped.

"What? What is it?"

"It's a giant spider! But I think it's dead."

"You think? That's kind of important."

"It's dead."

"I don't like spiders."

"Then stay over there."

I sighed. _Come on, Robin. You have a PhD in mathematics. Most people would rather face a live giant spider than even think about doing that. You can do this._ One part of me, at least, is brave. The rest of me, however, is logical. _There is a huge different between finding a giant spider, dead or not, where there could be more of them that could kill you and doing some math. Math won't kill you. It'll only drive you insane. But, at least you'll be alive. Sort of. _While I stood there arguing with myself, Crystal had wandered out of sight. It was even creepier to be near a dead giant spider surrounded by spider webs by myself than being near a dead giant spider surrounded by spider webs when someone who was pretty much fearless was with me. _Please Lord, let there be no more giant spiders around. _I prayed and followed after Crystal, staying as far away from the spider (which had to be at least twice my size, and I am not a small girl) as I dared. I was more than a little afraid of getting lost in the gloom.

The good news was that I found Crystal not too far from where the first spider was. The bad news was that there were at least eight more dead spiders lying in random spots around where she was kneeling. Her pack was gone, and I didn't see where she had set it down.

"Crystal? Why are you sitting there with all these spiders around?"

"I found someone. He doesn't have a pulse, but I think I can save him. He can't have been gone too long."

"Really?"

She was busy doing CPR and didn't answer me. At times like that, I wished I knew how to save lives. Even knowing little things, like CPR, would've been more useful than knowing whether or not every normal Moore space was metrizable. That was an open problem in topology for a long time and has pretty much been shunted into a Never Never Land for theoretical math problems and so is considered answered and, in part, un-provable (just in case any of you were wondering…no? I didn't think so).

I walked around to get a better look at Crystal's patient without getting in her space. The spiders were still giving me the creeps and I could have sworn I heard something rustling in the underbrush to my right. I kept looking over my shoulder as I walked, straining and failing to see if anything was there. I just wanted to leave this place and never come back. I _hate_ spiders.

The man Crystal was working on was badly wounded and the curved sword in his right hand was covered in what looked like spider guts (so that's a plus for him). Aside from the injuries, he was really handsome: tall, muscular, with long auburn hair and two braids splayed out around his head. He had an empty quiver and a beautifully carved bow strung on his back, which explained the arrows in the dead spiders. He looked like he had walked out of a LOTR cosplay, complete with the most realistic elf ears I had ever seen. They looked even more real than the elf ears in the movies did. I took another look around at the dead spiders, my mind spinning with the idea that had just popped into my head. This must be a movie set. Except, why would they leave an injured or dead actor just lying in the middle of the set? And where were the lights and cameras and directors and extras and all the things that went into making a movie?

The elf/man gasped as he started breathing again. Crystal had done it! She sat back on the ground, practically covered in his blood and went to work patching up his worst wounds. I sighed in relief. But, my relief was short lived as a curved sword like the one the elf/man had was laid against my throat.

* * *

_A/N: Hi guys! This is my first time writing a LOTR/Hobbit fanfiction (and also my first time writing in first person) and I'd really appreciate any constructive comments or ideas! I am happy to listen to requests for scenes or things you'd like to see. I'm gonna keep this story PG-13, so no slash or hardcore lemon/smut. But, I really want feedback for my work. So please feel free to comment! _


	2. Chapter 2

Another man had a sword against Crystal's throat and motioned for her to get up.

"What did you do to him?" The man asked impatiently. "Answer me!"

"I-I just did CPR. Please, you need to let me finish treating what I can of his wounds. He'll bleed to death if I can't stop his bleeding!"

"I think you've done enough, witchling. Come." Another man, who looked disturbingly familiar said came out of the trees, tossed Crystal's pack aside looking rather annoyed (he had a giant red mark on one side of his face, so he must've been hit by it when Crystal threw her pack aside to save the elf/man), and said something so in such a low voice that I didn't catch it. I stared at him trying to figure out where I had seen him before. I felt like it should be so obvious, but I couldn't put a name to his face. He had long blonde hair, done in the same style as the elf/man Crystal had been working on (only much neater), and strange, but expensive looking armor. What was going on? The man I felt like I should recognize and the one holding Crystal hostage had a brief conversation, and I could have sworn I heard the word Legolas in there somewhere. So that's what it was! The guy I was staring at looked so much like Orlando Bloom as Legolas that it was kind of unreal.

The Legolas-LARPer ('cause that's what had to be going on here) looked between Crystal and me. "Take them to my father." His father? Did he mean Thranduil, king of the wood elves of Mirkwood? Surely this was going way too far for a joke, or movie or cosplay or LARP or whatever this was. But I didn't want to antagonize someone who had a very sharp sword held to my back now (so we could walk without freaking out too much about tripping and accidentally cutting our throats), so I kept my mouth shut as we were guided through the forest. Before I knew it, we came to a break in the trees and, there in front of me, was a river, a bridge and the entrance to King Thranduil's palace, just like in the movie The Hobbit. I wanted to rub my eyes to make sure I was really seeing this. There was no way that was real. They tore that down years ago. I had to be dreaming.

As I was pushed across the bridge, I gathered up my courage and glanced back to see the rest of the company of elven LARPers that had captured us, with Crystal and the wounded man in tow. There was a guard standing on either side of the open doors leading into the beautiful cave that was the palace. Once inside, the elves accompanying their wounded comrade split off, presumably to take him to what passed for an infirmary here. The Legolas LARPer and the two elves holding us continued on a winding path that led directly to the throne room. There, practically draped on a beautiful throne (that I had a hard time noticing because of the beauty of the man on it) was a guy wearing antlers on his gorgeous white blonde hair and looking at Crystal and I like his magnificent presence was wasted on us. The air of prejudiced arrogance (not entirely unwarranted judging by his looks) around him reminded me of Lucius Malfoy. They even looked similar, at least in facial structure and body type.

"What have you brought here, Legolas?" I tried not to get angry at that. But his tone was really…arrogant. I had always thought that Thranduil was supposed to be kind to humans. Apparently, I was wrong.

"We found them in the woods near a spider nest. Presumably, they came from Lake-Town. But, the smaller one brought Garrik back from the dead."

"Truly?"

"Yes. I saw it with my own eyes. She used some kind of sorcery on him."

"A necromancer, then? Hmm. Lock her up. Make sure she has nothing to work her sorcery with."

The guard holding Crystal gave a stiff salute and pulled her away. I watched, helpless to stop them and afraid I might never see her again. _Please let them put me in a cell that is close to hers. Please._

And, of course I should have known that Crystal wasn't about to be dragged off to the dungeons quietly. "A necromancer? _Please!_ It's called CPR! Surely you've heard of it! You know? Really common medical technique." She struggled against the elf holding her. He looked questioning at the LARPer who was playing his king. The Thranduil LARPer gave her a disgusted looked and waved his hand with an arrogant flourish that said she was wasting his precious time. As she was being drug off I could hear her screaming, "I'm covered in BLOOD! Can't I at least wash if off? NO! Hepatitis! AIDS! Blood borne pathogensss! You jerk! Stupid LARPer, don't you realize that guy was DEAD? This is no game! AND TAKE THOSE STUPID ANTLERS OFF!" As her voice faded away to nothing in the distance, I tried really hard not to laugh. She wasn't usually the dramatic one in our little circle of friends, but she could be when she wanted to. The situation we were in hadn't really sunk in just yet. If it had, I probably would have been trying not to cry instead of laughing.

"What were those strange words she used?" Legolas asked to no one in particular.

"They must be part of some spell. Have her watched constantly." The Thranduil LARPer looked unperturbed at Crystal's yelling, but still, he was very quite for a long moment.

"What of this one?" Legolas waved his bow in my direction. "She must be an accomplice to the necromancer."

"I do not think so. Necromancers prefer to work alone. Sometimes they take captives, though. Slaves. She is likely that."

I couldn't take it anymore. I spoke up, emboldened by my friend's antics. "Her name is Crystal. She's not a necromancer. And we're not from Lake-Town. You shouldn't take these things so seriously, you know? Sheesh. We don't LARP. Don't include us in your games."

It was amazing how similar Legolas' and Thranduil's glares were. After a long moment of silence, the king spoke, "Crystal? Well, that is an unusual name, even for a human. And what is yours, child?"

I hesitated. "Robin."

"And you claim she is not a necromancer?"

"Yes."

"Is she completely human?"

"Yes."

"Then how could she save an elf that my warriors had already left for dead?"

"Umm…" I wasn't sure what to say to that. No one was really listening to me, after all. Apparently, Thranduil took my hesitation as confirmation of his theory.

"Be not too afraid, child. You may stay here long enough to rest and answer my questions. Then I will send you back from whence you came." I opened my mouth to protest, but the king talked over me. "Legolas, see to it that she is given a room and, once she has had a chance to freshen herself, bring her to me. She will answer all I ask." Again, I tried to protest and again, I never got the chance. I did, however, notice the hardly veiled insult. 'Freshen herself', indeed. "Go now." Once again, he waved his dismissal and Legolas dragged me by the arm away from the throne room.

"Come on." As I tried unsuccessfully to jerk away, he gave me an annoyed glare, let go of my arm and motioned for me to follow him. I rolled my eyes at his back. I was perfectly capable of walking on my own. I didn't need his help. And we would have been perfectly fine on our own in the woods, too. Well, except for the giant spiders. I had a feeling that if we had kept walking in that direction, we would have been eaten before nightfall (it actually was daytime, as I found out when we crossed the bridge). So, at least we were safe from those. But, Crystal was on her way to a dungeon cell and I was on my way to a posh (I hoped) guest room. Hopefully, they would even have warm water for a bath. I lost myself for a moment in fantasies of taking a luxurious bubble bath.

"Here. You'll find that your things have already been brought in and clothes that should fit you have been laid out. When you are finished, I will be waiting out here for you." He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall opposite an open door, as if he intended to wait for me to bathe and change. Well, if he really was going to wait, he would be there quite a while.

From the hall, I could see that the room was small, but much nicer than a dungeon cell. There was a bed that didn't look too uncomfortable, a washstand, and a dresser all made of the same carved wood. A mirror hung above the dresser and a single door led off into what I presumed was the bathroom. Or at least, I hoped.

I walked in and closed the door behind me and wished (not for the first time) that I knew what was really going on. Was Crystal really in the dungeons? And what about Nikki? Was she at home, wondering where we were? Or did she somehow end up here, but in a different place in the forest? Wherever my friends were, I sincerely hoped they were okay.

* * *

A/N: Okay, so this chapter is kind of short. Mainly because these first two chapters were one super long chapter. But, I thought it was too long, and so split the big chapter into one. I'm going to try to post every week, maybe every two weeks. Just know that lots of comments and suggestions help keep me working on the story! So make sure to comment!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

My new conclusion about our hosts was this: they were crazy. They took this whole LARPing thing way too seriously. Somehow, they had recreated (or created, because only parts of the palace were described in the book or shown in the movies) the entirety of King Thranduil's cave/palace. The detail was incredible. Even the pathways to the quest quarters looked exactly how they should. The wide and exquisitely carved tunnels reminded me, not of a cave, but of the roots of some huge tree. I couldn't help but be impressed at their attention to detail and thoroughness. So, even though they were absolutely insane, what they had built was really awesome.

But enough enthusing over the depth of their insanity. The room leading off the bedroom that Legolas showed me to was indeed a washroom. There was a bathtub filled with warm water (which made the room feel absolutely wonderful after the cold outside) and something that looked like a toilet. It didn't have a lever to flush, but a cursory look revealed that it was just a hole over an underground river. There was no toilet paper, but since the elven LARPers had conveniently brought my pack to the room, I could just use the toilet paper that our mysterious kidnapper had given me. Another washstand stood in the washroom and a large mirror hung over it. Well, at least I could see what I looked like after I freshened up. All that was left to check was the soap situation. On a stand next to the tub, there was a bar of soap (obviously made by hand, but done well) that smelled of freshly picked apples (and I'm talking Bath and Body Works quality smells here). Well, they had good soap, so that was something. But, there was no shampoo to be seen. I went back into the other room and dug through my pack until I found a small bottle of my usual brand. _How did they know what brand of shampoo I use?_ I was a little perturbed by this for a few minutes, until my brain came up with a solution for me: I use a very common brand, so it could have just been coincidence. I nodded to myself. My water was getting cooler by the minute and here I was, wasting time wondering about something I couldn't change even if I wanted to. So it was off to the bath for me.

My bath felt as wonderful as I had imagined. After sleeping most of the night on the hard ground and walking all day (and keep in mind that I had very little time for walking as a PhD student and I hadn't gotten around to taking up that particular hobby since I graduated), relaxing in the warm, apple scented water felt as close to Heaven as one could get on Earth. In light of my hardships that day, I figured I was perfectly in the right to take my time. After all, these LARPers were playing immortal elves. Surely they would be patient.

When I had finished washing and relaxing, I got out of the tub and wrapped a huge towel around myself. It would have been more huge had I been Crystal's size (I'm actually just under average height for a man in the U.S., whereas she's several inches shorter than me). As it was, the towel came down to just above my knees. Longer than most towels you can find in stores, anyway. I found a travel brush in my pack and spent the next few minutes in front of the mirror in the washroom, untangling my hair.

Just as I finished working out the last few tangles, I heard the door open and turned to see Legolas standing there. I turned beet red (which is impressive and also obvious because I'm so pale).

"What are you doing?" My heart jumped into my throat as he just stood there. It made it worse that he was looking at me in complete shock, as if he had never seen a woman in just a towel before. Come to think of it, if he had been LARPing as Legolas for a very long time, he probably hadn't. After all, one of the things I admired about elven culture (and shared their view on) was how conservative they were about these things.

He cleared his throat and looked away. "You should not take so long. My father is waiting for you." His tone was probably more forceful than it should have been. After all, he was the one who barged in on me! I did, however, notice a faint blush on his cheeks. At least he had the decency to be a little embarrassed.

I gave a rather unlady-like snort. "You guys are _supposed _to be immortal. You have all the time in the world, and I'd have thought you'd be a bit more patient. Seeing as how you _claim_ to live so long, anyway." If they were going to spend all this effort in their LARPing, they should at least try to stay true to the characters. Then again, what was I complaining about? I wanted them to break character and let us go.

Legolas glared at me, careful to keep his eyes locked on mine. "Just hurry up. It's not like more time is going to make much of a difference anyway." With that, he turned and left, nearly slamming the door behind him. Not make much of a difference? What was that supposed to mean? I was positively fuming. I didn't choose to come here. If I had known what was going to happen, I would never have let Crystal go exploring those giant spiders. I would have turned around and gladly stayed lost forever in the forest. Or died. Whichever came first.

Not wanting him to barge in on me again. I dressed hurriedly in my spare clothes from my pack (someone had left a dress on the bed, but I ignored it). My boots were far too warm to wear inside, so I did concede to wearing the slippers sitting next to the bed. Somehow, they fit perfectly.

When I came out, Legolas was against the wall again. The remains of his blush were so slight that I might have missed it had I not been looking for it. He motioned for me to follow him.

"Come."

I grumbled at him under my breath and followed.

"You know I can hear you, right?"

"Then you should know that I don't care."

"My father does not like to be insulted. I would take great care choosing your words when you answer his questions."

I didn't reply, but I did stop grumbling. I had no desire to end up in the dungeons with Crystal. If we were both locked up, there would be no one to help us escape. Sometimes I wondered why the logical side of my brain only showed up _after_ I had gotten myself into huge messes.

As we were approaching the Thranduil's throne, I saw someone (I could have sworn he was dressed as a dwarf) being taken down the same paths Crystal had gone only an hour or so ago. Were we not the only prisoners these crazy LARPers had taken? Maybe the others could help us escape. I tried not to look too hopeful as I walked into Thranduil's gaze.

"You will answer my questions and then I shall send you on your way. Is that clear?" There was a clear threat in his voice and eyes. So I nodded.

"Good. Now, why were you in the company of the necromancer child?"

That was a tough one. If I answered truthfully, I might be thrown into the dungeons and ruin our chances of escape. But, if I lied and they caught me, I'd run into the same predicament. I stood there for several moments trying to think of a good answer.

"I can sense that there is a long story involved in your answer. I do not care for details, child. Tell me the important facts."

"Okay," I decided to be utterly honest. Who knows, he might even believe me. "Crystal, who you called 'the necromancer child', and I woke up in the woods this morning with no idea how we got there. Then we walked half the day until we came across one of your men, who was not breathing at the time, in the middle of huge dead spiders. Crystal revived him and then we were captured and brought here. I think that about sums it up."

Thranduil's only response for several long minutes was absolute silence. He gazed at me as he thought, making me far more nervous than I had been. I began to question whether I had made the right decision.

"I have never heard of such an occurrence." I started to interrupt, but he held up his hand. "However, that does not mean it is beyond the realm of possibility. Perhaps the necromancer child cast a spell on you to make you believe such things. We will discover the truth ere you leave us. For now, though, I am weary of visitors. You may wander my halls, child, but do not try to leave them. I will have the truth from you before I let you go." With that, my meeting was over. Legolas offered (rather impatiently, I might add) to show me the way to my room. Of course I declined.

Luckily for me, no one followed me as I left down the same way I had seen the dwarf taken. I prayed that the dungeons were down there. As I walked, I heard singing coming from what sounded like everywhere. It sounded like several people, but I couldn't tell where it was coming from. Whoever it was, they had beautiful voices and sang in wonderful harmony.

After a time, an elven guard appeared, walking towards me. He was singing as he went and stopped with a good-natured smile when he heard my stomach growling. I hadn't eaten anything since the night before and of course it had to be right then that my stomach decided to make its needs known.

"Well, child. Are you lost? Do you need to be shown where the dining halls are?"

I shook my head. "I'm not hungry."

He chuckled under his breath, but didn't seem too perturbed that I had just obviously lied to him. "Alright. When you decide you require sustenance, follow this path up for three hundred steps and then follow the path to your left until it ends. The dining halls will be on your right." He continued on before I could thank him, joining the harmonies with ease. Wow, at least there were _some_ people here who weren't all bad. I made a mental note to greet him any time I saw him from then on. I could use an ally.

After that, I found the start of the dungeons with ease. They were in a huge, well-lit crevice with the cells carved into the walls at natural intervals and a narrow but swift river flowing at the bottom. Stairs led down into the crevice and narrow bridges connected the paths on either wall every so often. There were few guards present, most of them singing, but none paid me any mind.

As I peered into cell after cell, I noticed that most of them were empty. A few, mostly clustered near the bottom where the river splashed onto the walkway and into the cells as it sped by, were not. These held LARPers playing as captive dwarves. Their presence made be suspect that the time period that was being played out was that of Thorin's captivity by the Wood Elves of Mirkwood. This supposition was corroborated by the captives themselves. Once they realized that I was not an elf, but a 'guest' such as themselves and with only marginally more freedom, they introduced themselves and asked (quietly) if I was willing to aid in their escape. One, a white-haired dwarf with a bulbous nose who introduced himself as Balin, told me that there was another human girl in a cell on the lower level of the opposite wall from him. I thanked him and hurried to the particular cell.

"Chanders? You in there?" The cell was dark and so I was unable to see its occupants. Relief flooded through me when I heard her voice.

"Robin? You found me!" As she came up to the bars, her face lit up. "So, any ideas on how to get me out of here? It's really damp and I'm still covered in blood. Do you know what happened to that injured guy?"

I glanced around before I answered. The only guard within sight was sitting on the stairs talking animatedly to one of the younger dwarves (introduced to me by his brother as Kili, so I assumed the elf guard talking to him was Tauriel). So, we were pretty safe for the moment. Tauriel looked pretty entranced in her conversation with Kili.

"I don't know what happened to him. But, I do know that these people are crazy and we have to get out of here."

"Tell me about it. The 'dwarf' in here swears his name is Thorin."

"Thorin? Well, I was introduced to the rest of his company who are also being held captive here. Apparently, they've been here for weeks and they're itching to escape before they lose their chance to open the door to Erebor. Which means, some tiny dude playing Bilbo is running around pretending to be invisible and waiting for his chance to free them."

The dwarf I hadn't noticed before at the back of the cell spoke up, "What do you mean? You've seen Bilbo?"

"I guess if you're playing the story the way I think you are, you'll escape soon."

"Then you haven't seen him?"

"No. I just told you, he's probably running around pretending he's invisible."

"Then he hasn't been caught?"

"You don't listen very well, do you?"

At that, Thorin glared at me. Crystal hushed me, "Robin. Tact, remember? You need to work on your tact." She gave me a look like she was trying to remind me that these people all thought they were actually in Middle Earth and that their quest was real.

"Oh. Um, sorry. I didn't mean to be rude. I just thought I had already explained the answer to your last question."

Crystal sighed. Apparently, this was not the apology I should have made. Probably too sarcastic. Maybe a little too condescending. I'd never be any good at apologizing when people ask stupid questions.

There was a sudden marked increase in the volume and joviality of the music coming from the rest of the palace. I looked up in confusion until I heard Tauriel saying, "It is Mereth-en-Gilith, the Feast of Starlight."

"Wait a sec. Isn't this the night they escape?"

Thorin nearly shoved Crystal aside trying to get to the bars. "You said we escape tonight? Tell me, how do you know this?"

I opened my mouth to explain, but Crystal shook her head. She glared at Thorin from where she had fallen against the cell wall. "If you want answers, you have to take us with you. We'll tell you everything we know once we're free."

* * *

_A/N: Thanks so much for the encouraging words! And a very warm thank you to my followers! But, on a sad note, my next semester starts up again on Monday and I'm not going to be able to post but once every one or two weeks. I wish I could post more, but between teaching 40 students and taking 3 classes of my own, I'll barely have time to post at all. I'm going to try my best, though! And I'll look to your comments, suggestions and constructive criticism as encouragement to continue doing my best to give you guys a great story!_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The escape plan worked perfectly, for everyone except Crystal and me, that is. We have absolutely the worst luck ever. But, I'm jumping ahead of myself a little bit. So, there I was talking to Crystal and the Thorin LARPer in the cell, with Tauriel telling Kili that it was the Feast of Starlight, aka the night the dwarves escaped the Woodland realm, and realizing that this was our only chance to escape with them.

"Fine. As soon as we make it to the lake, you will tell us all you know about our quest. Including how you could possibly know of Bilbo's powers of invisibility." Thorin looked at us expectantly. I sighed and nodded, seeing Crystal do the same.

"But, I can't just stay here all night, can I? I mean, won't it be odd if I'm here longer than a few minutes? After all, I'm not the one locked up."

Thorin thought for a moment before answering. "The change of guards takes place in half an hour and the feast has only just begun. Surely Bilbo will wait until it is well under way before breaking us out. Go and come back in two hours. I'm sure your friend here will not let us leave without you." He glared at Crystal, who was, by the way, still covered in dry blood and smelling pretty rank. She shrugged and gave him a half smile.

"Still, it's not really fair that you got to bathe and I didn't. All because I had to save that one guy's life. Haven't these guys ever heard of CPR? Seriously?"

"I don't think so, Chanders. I think these people are so far into character that they wouldn't stop even if World War III broke out around them."

"World War III?" I had forgotten Thorin was there for a moment. Oh well.

"It's just a saying. Not important." My stomach rumbled again. "Man, I'm hungry. I'm gonna go see if I can find anything to eat while we wait. You want me to bring you something, Chanders?"

"Only if they have dessert. We were just fed like an hour ago, so I'm not really hungry. It actually wasn't that bad, but I really want something sweet. Or coffee. See if they have coffee."

"Okay. I'll look. Well, see ya in a bit." I waved, smiled at Thorin's seemingly ever-present glare, and carefully made my way back to the hallway where I had met the singing guard earlier. Now, where did he say the dining halls were? Oh yeah.

I found my way to the dining halls and sighed in relief when I saw that neither Legolas nor Thranduil were present. This hall was apparently only used by the "common" elves. Of course, everyone was way more graceful that I could ever hope to be. I am super clumsy. Unless I'm doing martial arts, anyway. For some reason, the only grace I have comes out when I practice my Kyokushinkai moves. And it had been a few years since I had a decent dojo to practice at, so I hadn't really kept up with it.

The smell of wonderfulness in the form of food reminded me why I had come. Man, I was so easily distracted. It was a wonder I even managed to get a BS, let alone my PhD. Thank Heaven for patient professors. See? I did it again. Easily distracted.

The elven guard I had seen earlier saw me from the table he had been sitting at with several other elves and waved me over. At least someone wanted to be nice to me. I sat down next to him and one of his friends pushed a plate of food in front of me. There was what looked like roasted chicken and vegetables steamed and dripping with butter and a warm soft roll. Not at all what I would have expected. The shock must have shown on my face (like every other tiny little emotion I feel does) because one of the guards laughed.

"What were you expecting? The best food goes to the king and his party above. This is the servants' dining hall."

I shook my head fervently. "No, this is amazing! I'm just really hungry, that's all."

The guard that had given me directions early smiled, "Well, not that long ago you told me that you weren't hungry at all."

"Well, I lied."

"I see that."

"Sorry."

He smiled again. "No need to apologize. I understand. You are in an unfamiliar place and you do not know whom to trust."

I didn't say anything to that. He had no idea just how right he was.

"My name is Indógos Ondonae. Would you do me the honor of giving me your name?" That was it. This elf was a player. Well, he could sweet talk all he wanted, he wasn't getting anything out of me. I was a high security bank vault. Impenetrable.

"Robin." Well, I had to answer with something, didn't I?

"A strange name. Robin. Is that not the human name for a certain small red breasted bird?"

"Yes." Why did he care? Surely they named elves after birds sometimes? Right? "But, as a person's name it means 'shining star' or 'bright fame'."

"Truly?"

I nodded.

"Then you have a wonderful name. Most are not so fortunate as you." Meaning he didn't want to tell me what his name meant because it was probably something silly, like 'snores while sleeping' or 'hairy one'. Not that he was hairy. He wasn't. Elves are never hairy. But his brown hair was a little thicker than some of the others'. And it was really long and shiny and pretty. No, I was not admiring his hair. Just noticing it. There's nothing wrong with that.

I started in on my food. I was truly famished and the food tasted wonderful. Half way through my second plate, I remembered to breathe. And realized I was being stared at. What? Had they never seen a human eat before?

"You chew quite loudly." The elf sitting across from me looked rather amused. He was a jerk.

"And you eat quickly." Indógos chuckled at me. And I thought he was my friend. Traitor.

"Habit. When I was in high school, they only gave us thirty minutes for lunch and I always spent like twenty-five of that in line trying to get food. So I never had more than like five or ten minutes to eat. And I wanted time to talk to my friends. So I learned to eat fast."

"High school?"

"What? Did you guys never go to high school?"

"I have never heard of such a thing. Is it very prestigious where you come from?" Of course he's never heard of it. He probably spent his entire life LARPing. Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. It sounded less stressful.

"Hardly. Nearly everybody graduates from high school. It's going to college that's prestigious." I frowned. "But, I guess that's not really the case, now. So many people have graduated from college that that's no longer a guarantee that you'll find a job. It depends on what you study."

"From your tone, I take it you graduated from this college. What did you study?"

"Mathematics."

"Really? And are you still studying mathematics?"

"Yeah. I really want to teach at the university level. That takes a lot of study and dedication." Look at me, making myself look better that I really am. I was barely able to make myself focus enough to do all of my homework. I'm actually pretty surprised I made it through undergrad, much less grad school. They were probably hurting for students the year I got accepted.

"So –"

"Is there any coffee?" I didn't really mean to interrupt, but I had covertly checked my phone and it was getting closer to the designated meeting time.

"Coffee? I do not know of this coffee. What is it?"

"Um. It's a really bitter drink that wakes you up and smells amazing. You put milk and sugar, or creamer and sugar, in it to make it taste better, but some people just drink it black."

Indógos looked like he had more questions to ask, but decided against it. "We do not have any coffee, but we do have wine. For you, it would have to be well watered. But, it would not wake you up. Quite the opposite, actually." He chuckled again. Was he offering to try to get me drunk? I had never been drunk before (surprising, I know), and I didn't think that this was a good time for the first time. So, I told him that I was really tired and just wanted to go to bed. And, just like the creeper I was beginning to suspect that he was, he watched me the entire time I was walking towards the exit.

Luckily, he didn't follow me out. I glanced around and then stole a peek at my phone to check the time. I still had fifteen minutes to get down to the cells, and I wanted to grab my backpack, so I headed back up to my room (and I only got lost twice, yay me). Since I knew we were going to be getting wet, I dug around in my backpack until I found what looked like a giant, high quality zip lock bag that said it was guaranteed to be water proof. In went my cell phone, the hand crank cell phone charger, and anything else that would not handle massive amounts of water well. Surprisingly, it fit. Barely. And it made repacking easier, since most of the little stuff was stuck together now. Maybe I should have just stuck everything in this to begin with. I zipped the pack up and reached for my pocket to check my cell phone until I remembered that it was in my bag and I now had no way to tell if I was late or not. Darn.

Well, there was nothing for it, but to head down anyway, late or not. Surely, they wouldn't leave without me. Crystal wouldn't let them. And she could be very stubborn. Very stubborn.

I remembered my way down to the cells better this time, although I did get lost once and nearly crashed Thranduil's party (what a tragedy). I'm glad I figured out where I was before I walked into his dining hall. I probably would have been shot on sight.

Anyway, I made good time. The LARPer playing Bilbo (completely visible, by the way) was just unlocking Thorin's (and Crystal's) cell. Thorin glanced at me as I ran up, lost my balance, and nearly fell into the river. I'm more than a little clumsy remember?

"Ah. Good. You are right on time. Let us leave this place." He started off towards the dining halls, the rest of the dwarves following him. I shook my head as Bilbo tried to get the dwarves' attention.

"No. This way. There's another way out."

A wave of confusion spread throughout the company until Thorin gave a mighty 'HUSH' and held his fist aloft.

"Bilbo, lead the way."

Bilbo nodded and took off in the other direction. Crystal and I shared an amused look and followed as quickly as we could without stumbling over the dwarves' feet. They had big feet for such little people.

We made it to the storeroom without incident. It was far emptier than I remembered from the movie. Where were the guard and his friend? As soon as we entered fully, my eyes were drawn to the large stack of barrels lying on their sides and piled in a pyramid shape on what looked like wood flooring. Even on closer examination, it was hard to see that they were actually on a trap door. I had just started inspecting the lever to release the door when the sound of a door opening from down the hall froze everyone where they stood.

"Where is the way out, Master Burglar?"

"In the barrels. Quickly please."

This roused complaints from the rest of the company.

"Please, just trust me."

Thorin thought for a moment. "Do as he says." And all at once the dwarves scrambled for barrels. Crystal and I were left with two at the very bottom of the pyramid and on the end closest to where we entered. That meant we would be some of the last to roll off the ramp. I shared a half-frightened half-excited glance with Crystal before Bilbo pulled the lever and told everyone to hold their breath. The next thing I knew, there was a shock of freezing water and I gasped. Water streamed into my lungs and sent me into a fit of coughing and retching as my barrel resurfaced.

The dwarves made a barricade with their barrels by holding onto the rocks all around us to keep from being pulled downstream by the fast current while we waited for Bilbo.

"Are you okay?" Crystal gave me a worried look as I continued to hack my lungs out.

"Sure…sure. I'm…fine." What a liar, I am. My lungs felt like they were on fire. But, I didn't think I would have any permanent damage. She opened her mouth to say something else just as the trap door/ramp opened again to let Bilbo come sliding into the water. As it closed, I caught sight of Tauriel and several other elves chasing after him.

"Well done, Master Baggins." Thorin gave Bilbo a half smile and pushed off into the current. It was really dark in the tunnel we were in. The only light came from a few random crystals that shown with a pale luminescence and barely gave us enough light to see each other's faces. And, aside from the rushing of the river, it was quiet. The tunnel was also a lot longer than it seemed in the movie. We flowed along for a good five minutes before we caught the first glimpse of sunlight ahead. As we neared the tunnel's mouth, I noticed a path running on both sides along the river. The elves were probably running down these paths towards us at that very moment. With bows and arrows. And swords. Not a pleasant thought.

Just before the waterfall marking the exit, and as I was looking back to see our pursuers, there was a loud CRACK and my barrel stopped cold. I was stuck between two rocks. Like really stuck. I pushed on the rock closest to the path and had just managed to move like an inch away when another barrel crashed into mine with such force that both of them stuck fast and would not give way no matter how hard I pushed.

Crystal stuck her head out of the barrel that had just doomed our escape. "What happened?"

"We're stuck. That's what happened." The last of the barrels carrying the dwarves had just gone over the waterfall and the elves were surely not far behind. But, we couldn't just give up. "Let's see if we can free ourselves." I tried to climb out of the barrel and, believe me, it's a lot harder than it looks. First off, if I held onto the edges of the barrel, I kept getting splinters. But, the rocks were too slippery to hold onto.

As I tried in vain to get out of that confounded barrel, a company of elves led by Tauriel and Legolas showed up. Of course Legolas stopped in front of me and waved the rest of the company onward.

"Well, I see your escape attempt worked perfectly." He laughed at my glare and left us there, as if we were not worth locking up because there was no way we could escape. This was so annoying. Why? Why me? Why did the plan work for everyone else, but not me? Well, and Crystal. She was stuck with me. It looked like we'd be spending more quality time with the elves.

Stupid river. Stupid current. Stupid barrels. UGH.

* * *

_A/N: Sorry this took so long for me to post. The first two weeks of school have been mayhem! I'll try to do better in the future. Anyway, thanks so much to all my followers, reviewers, and readers! You guys are the best!_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I had just managed to climb out of my barrel and helped Crystal out of hers when Legolas and company came back through with a prisoner in tow. The orc LARPer had done a wonderful job with his makeup and clothing. He could've just stepped off of a movie set. Tauriel had a slender blade held against his throat and another against his back. There was no way he was escaping.

Legolas stopped in front of us. "So, you finally made it out of the barrels I see."

I mumbled for him to shut up under my breath. Unfortunately, he heard me. And he was not pleased.

"I trust you can walk without our aid? And you will not try to escape again?" He smirked.

"Of course we can walk. And where, exactly, would we go? We don't know where anything is, so it wouldn't do us any good to escape without a guide."

"Assuming you do not inadvertently kill yourselves in your next attempt."

"We didn't get hurt."

"Of course." He nudged me with his bow. "Now move." We moved. There really was nothing for it but to do what he asked. I was so embarrassed about our escape attempt. How had it gone so wrong? I didn't remember any rocks sticking out like that in the movies, so why did they include them here? If I hadn't seen the attention to detail of the rest of the palace, I would have thought that they were just a natural phenomenon. But with the level of detail they paid to everything here, had that been the case, they would have removed them. Well, maybe they just got a little lazy. Heaven knows I get lazy sometimes. Did I say sometimes? I meant all the time. It's a wonder I get anything done at all (other than video games or watching TV, that is).

Man, I was sure Legolas and the others were secretly (or not so secretly in Legolas' case) laughing their heads off inside as we were led back into the palace. I hate being made a fool of. It's probably one of the things I hate most. Right up there with Texas drivers (who constantly ignore me while I'm driving), cream cheese (don't judge me, I think it's gross), and people telling me that I don't understand something because I haven't been through as much as them (you don't know what I understand or don't; and just because I don't agree with you doesn't mean I don't understand). Anyway, my face felt like it was on fire, and I'm sure I had turned beet red. For the second time today. I didn't think I'd blushed so much in one day since I taught my first real class in graduate school and kept dropping my pen on the floor and having to say the same sentence two or three times to get it out correctly (yes, I was _that_ nervous).

Crystal and I were, for once, silent as we were led back through the palace. After what seemed like an eternity of walking, we entered the throne room to see Thranduil standing in front of his throne, waiting for us his usual vain, arrogant air about him.

"What have you brought before me, Legolas? Why have you only returned the necromancer and the dim one? Where are the dwarves?" Did Thranduil just call me dim? This time, my face was not red from embarrassment. No one calls me dim. I may not be the smartest person I know, and I may spend a whole lot of time trying to convince myself that I'm not quite as stupid as my studies make me feel, but I am far from dim. In fact, I am of the belief that no one is truly dim. Most people just aren't good at all the same things, but they usually have one or two things that they are good at.

"They escaped our borders due to the attack of a company of orcs. I believe they were chasing the dwarves, but I have no reason why as of yet."

"Why do you not ask your orc prisoner yourself?" The guards with Legolas and Tauriel moved us towards the edge of the throne room to give them more room for interrogation and Legolas took over holding the blade to the orc's throat.

"Why were you chasing a company of thirteen dwarves?"

The orc said nothing, but spit on the floor at Tauriel's feet.

Anger flashed in her eyes. "Answer the question, filth."

"Not thirteen. Not anymore. The young one, we stuck him with a Morgul shaft. The poison's in his blood. He'll be choking on it soon." The orc smiled a truly wicked smile at that. Until Legolas pressed the blade tighter against his throat, anyway.

Tauriel's face contorted with pain for a moment and then relaxed, as if she was trying to conceal whatever emotion she was feeling. "You killing things? You like death? Well, let me give it to you!" She lunged for the orc, blade in hand and stopped suddenly when Thranduil called her name.

"Tauriel!"

Legolas pressed the blade even harder against the orc's throat. "I would not antagonize her."

Thranduil said something else in a language I didn't understand, but sounded like some form of elvish, and Tauriel left the room. She didn't quite stalk, but she definitely didn't walk normally. If I remembered the movie correctly (this part had to be from the movie, seeing as it wasn't in the book), she was about to go after the dwarves. Well, one dwarf in particular, Kili. Personally, I thought the romantic story between her and Kili was, well, romantic. But, I bet Legolas didn't. Or Thorin, for that matter. I could hardly see Thorin allowing his nephew to wed an elf. But, I digress (which I do a lot, I know).

Thranduil turned back to the orc. "You have nothing to fear. Tell us what you know, and I will set you free."

The orc was silent, so Legolas spoke up. "You had orders to kill them. Why? What is Thorin Oakenshield to you?"

"The dwarf _runt_ will never be king."

"King? There is no king under the mountain, nor will there ever be. None would dare enter Erebor whilst the dragon lives."

"You know nothing. Your world will burn."

"What are you talking about? Speak!"

"Your time has come again. My master serves _the one_. Do you understand now, elfling? Death is upon you. The flames of war are upon you." His laughter was cut short as Thranduil whipped out a short sword from out of no where and sliced clean through the orc's neck. I stared in horror. Seeing someone die in front of you was very different from seeing someone die in a movie or video game. The orc's body was still shaking, black blood pooling on the floor. Legolas still held his head.

"Why did you do that? You promised to free him"

"And I did. I freed his wretched head from his miserable body." Thranduil wiped his sword clean and sheathed it in the sheath that I hadn't noticed before.

"There was still more he could tell us."

"There was nothing more he could tell me." The king began to walk away, but stopped and turned back towards Legolas. "I want this kingdom sealed. No one enters it and no one leaves it." He swept away, leaving Legolas standing there by the body of the orc, with Crystal and I forgotten for the moment. Or so we thought. The two guards who had been standing by while the orc was being interrogated moved in to clean up the body. That's when Legolas noticed the two of us standing there in shock. Neither Crystal nor I had moved the entire time since the orc had been beheaded in front of us. I don't really know what I had thought was going to happen there. I guess I had thought that they wouldn't really kill someone for the sake of a LARPing session, even an extended one such as this.

Legolas' face softened a fraction when he looked at us. He motioned for another guard to come take us and said something in elvish. As we were being led away, I briefly glanced at Legolas and saw him heading off towards the front entrance, presumably to relay his father's orders.

On the way to wherever we were going, Crystal glanced at me several times. She had this look in her eyes, like she wanted us to try to get away, but I was in shock. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, my thoughts included. Crystal may have been desensitized to a lot of things (being a nurse, she had to be), but I was a teacher, a student. My world was not a violent place. Nothing really bad ever happened there. So, now my world was shaken, and it had shaken the fight right out of me. At least for the moment.

I began to snap out of it a little when we stopped in front of a carved wooden door. This was not the cells, in fact, although I hadn't really been paying much attention to where we were going, I was pretty sure we weren't even in the vicinity of the cells. The door looked like the one to the guest room I had been in earlier. Surely, this couldn't be right. I turned and looked at the guard just in time to see two more come trotting up to us.

"Go in. We will stay just outside; so do not think to escape. There is nowhere to go." He opened the door and revealed the same room I had been in earlier. My boots were still there by the bed. At least that was something. He shut the door behind us as we went inside and I heard a lock click. Well, it was nicer than the cells.

"Robin?" Crystal gave me a concerned look.

"Chanders, I don't think that thing was human."

"It wasn't. Human blood is never that color. Not unless it's been dry for days."

"So…what if Thranduil, Legolas and the others aren't human, either?"

"I don't know. That would explain how everyone thinks this is real, or seems to at least."

I sat down on the floor, not wanting to get the bed wet since my clothes were still damp from my time in the barrel. "Okay. So that…orc…that just died. That was actually an orc. Not a human dressed as an orc?"

"Seems that way."

"And the elves. They're all really elves."

"I think so."

"What have we been thrown into?"

"Middle Earth."

"But, Middle Earth isn't real."

"How do you know that? Why can't God have made more than one world and let someone write about them in ours?"

"Yeah…but…"

"Ugh! I think some orc blood spilled on me. Is there some place I can wash in here?"

I pointed towards the bathroom. She nearly ran to it, saying she was going to take a bath and get all the dried blood off. I stayed seated on the floor. All of this was real. It wasn't a LARP. That meant that everything that was happening here, was actually happening. Not some story that people were playing out, but real, dangerous life. How was that possible?

* * *

_A/N: Sorry if some of the dialogue is off. I don't quite remember all of that particular scene. Or any of them, for that matter. Anyways, thanks to all of my readers, followers and reviewers for hanging in there! I know I don't post as often as you'd like… :/ _

_But, know that I sincerely appreciate you guys! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Nikki awoke to the sound of birds chirping, water flowing and the bitterly cold wind blowing over her. She thought, at first that Robin must have turned the thermostat down during the night, a mistake she would pay for with her life. Nikki sat up and blinked in the sunlight. This was not their apartment. She was in a forest, snow all around, and trees that loomed over her menacingly, though not too thickly. A fire pit with smoking embers lay between her and a sleeping bag that held the slumbering form of her six-year-old son, Andy. Relief flooded through her at the sight of him. Wherever they were, at least they were there together.

She wondered briefly where Crystal and Robin were, but soon discarded the thought. They were probably at home in their apartment wondering where she and Andy had gone off too. That was probably a good thing. Neither of them knew much of anything about camping or how to survive in the wild. Nikki had always loved the wilderness and, at least before her son was born, would always go off for days, sometimes weeks, to the forests near her hometown, simply to be alone in the wild.

Andy rolled over in his sleeping bag until he was facing her and blinked. "Mommy?"

"I'm here, sweety." She steeled herself for the cold and reluctantly slid out of her sleeping bag and kneeled down by her son.

"It's cold!" He wrinkled his face to show his distaste and Nikki nearly laughed. Like mother, like son.

"I know. Let's see if we can find some better shelter. Wanna pack up your stuff for me?"

He nodded. "Okay." Andy actually got up and started rolling up his sleeping bag. Nikki was shocked. He never did what she asked. She guessed it was just a morning for strange things.

She tied her sleeping bag and Andy's to her pack, helped him put on his own small pack, and slung hers over her shoulder without really investigating what they had. It didn't really matter that much anyway. She had seen smoke in the distance through the gaps in the tree branches and that meant people. So there must be a camp or settlement nearby and maybe they could tell her where she was. Stamping out the remains of the fire and covering it with snow, she led Andy through the forest in the direction of the smoke.

After a few minutes, they came to the edge of a great lake. It was so vast, Nikki couldn't see the other edge of it from where they were standing. Great chunks of ice floated lazily past the banks. It looked like the entire lake would be frozen in a few weeks. Yay. More cold. Just what Nikki loved most.

The smoke, or cloud or whatever it was seemed to be coming from the middle of the lake. But there was no way they'd be going there now. They had no boat and she would bathe in the lake naked before she let Andy touch that water. She stood shivering on the banks of the lake for a few minutes trying to decide what to do next. Until Andy decided for her.

"Mom! Look!" He took off along the banks, running at top speed. And he could run pretty fast for a 6-year-old.

"Andy! Come back here, right now!" She ran after him, cursing her short legs and praying he didn't fall into the water. He was running awfully close to the edge of the lake. She caught up to him just as he stopped, pointing at a small figure struggling in the water a several feet from them. It was a girl, a little older than Andy, and it looked like she was drowning.

Without a care for the cold or her clothes, she dropped her pack and jumped into the water. The initial shock of the cold made her gasp and she almost swallowed a lung-full of water herself. Luckily, by some instinct she hadn't known she possessed, she kept from breathing the water in and swam as fast as she could towards the girl. Nikki grabbed her with one arm and pinned her arms to her side so the girl couldn't try to pull her under. Careful to keep both their heads above the water, she made her way back to the bank where Andy stood.

Just as she pulled the girl out of the water, a man came running up to her and nearly shoved her aside.

"Tilda! Tilda! Look at me. Breathe!" The girl, Tilda, coughed and sputtered, but was able to breathe. Nikki was just glad she was going to be alright.

As soon as she let out a relieved breath, the icy wind blew and made her gasp again. If she had thought it was cold before, that was nothing to how cold she felt now. The man heard her gasp and stood up, the girl in his arms.

"Thank you for saving my daughter. I owe you my gratitude."

"It's-s, no p-p-problem." She was shivering so much she couldn't speak properly and her hands had gone numb. That was a bad sign.

"Please. Come with me. You and your son should get warm by my fire. It would not do to allow the woman who saved my daughter to perish from the cold."

Nikki nodded. She didn't know the man, but she was cold and willing to do almost anything to get warm. Almost.

"My name is Bard. And this is Tilda, my youngest daughter." Bard motioned to the girl in his arms.

"I'm N-nikki, and m-my son is Andy. Do y-you know where we are?"

"You are a short walk away from Lake-town. Many know it as Escaroth."

"N-never heard of it."

"I am not surprised. Escaroth has not been known to the world for nearly a hundred years."

"Oh. Are w-we in Europe?" His accent sounded vaguely European to her, but since she hated most European accents, she had no clue which one. Robin would know. She loved European accents. Nikki felt like she could barely understand them.

"I'm afraid I have not heard of this Europe. Neither have I heard your accent before. Do you mind if I ask where you are from?"

"Texas."

"I have not heard of this place, either. Is it near this Europe?"

"Nope. N-not e-even close."

"Then you have travelled far?"

"Yep. I g-guess s-so."

"Well, you must be tired and cold. Come. We'll get you dried off."

She allowed herself to be led away, clinging to Andy's hand even as he tried to pull away.

"Mom, stop it! I don't wanna hold your hand!"

She held tighter. "You will hold my hand until we get where we are going!" she said in her best mother voice. Robin and Crystal had told her on multiple occasions that she had a very stern mother voice. Unfortunately, Andy hardly ever listened. He kept whining and trying to pull away until Nikki thought she was going to go crazy. He finally fell silent when they reached a long bridge stretching from the lakeshore to a small town set directly on top of the water. If she hadn't been so cold, she might have stopped to admire it, because it actually looked pretty cool. From a distance, anyway. As they got closer, it became more and more obvious that the people of the town had never been very well off. The houses were made of wood, as were the walkways and bridges over the canals. But every sidewalk and bridge was covered in refuse and the place smelled overwhelmingly of rotting fish. Nikki was used to bad smells, but even she had to cover her nose. Luckily, she didn't think Bard noticed. He was too focused on getting his daughter into the warmth before she got sick. She understood. If that had been her daughter, she would be just as worried.

After a long and uneventful walk, Bard turned sharply and ran up the stairs to a rickety two-story house that looked like every other rickety two-story house they had passed. The wooden stairs looked just as old and worn as every other piece of wood in the town. Nikki doubted for a moment that they would hold up, but a gust of freezing wind blew away her doubts and she followed Bard inside.

The inside of the house looked just as ragged as the outside, but it was much warmer. Nikki sighed in relief and released Andy's hand.

"Do not break anything." He nodded and immediately ran over to check out what was on the table in the center of the main room. A girl who looked to be in her early teens, maybe 15 at most, came out from a back room.

"Did you find her, Da?"

Bard nodded and hand Tilda to the new arrival. "Get her dry and let her sit in front of the fire. And see if you can find some spare dry clothes. This woman saved Tilda from the lake. The least we can do is make sure she stays warm."

A boy, maybe 12 years old, came rushing in the front door. Nikki gasped from the shock of the incoming rush of cold air.

"Da! Did you find her?"

"I did. Bain, go get a blanket from the chest in the back room." The boy nodded and darted off. Bard's children seemed to mind so well. She glanced over at Andy, who was currently investigating the kitchen area.

"Andy! Get away from that pot!" He had just been about to reach for a boiling pot of stew sitting on the wood burning stove. She sighed. When was he going to outgrow his must-touch-everything stage? Wasn't that supposed to go away when he grew out of toddler clothes?

The boy, Bain, came back into the room and handed his father a very warm and surprisingly new-looking woolen blanket. Bard handed it to her.

"Here. Go sit by the fire and warm up. You'll catch a cold if you don't."

Nikki was surprised by the gentle look he gave her as he handed the blanket over. She had quickly grown used to him giving firm orders. She took the blanket, collected Andy, and sat down with him in front of another small wood burning stove that acted as their heater. The cold had really shaken her. Quite literally. She was shivering almost uncontrollably by this point, even though it was warmer inside out of the wind. She and cold just didn't get along at all.

"Do you have a place to stay?" Bard stood towering over her, a bundle of dry clothes in his arms. She shook her head.

"Then you must stay here."

"I don't want to cause any inconvenience."

"It is no inconvenience. Please, I would not throw a young woman and her son out in the cold."

Nikki thought for a moment. It wasn't like she had any better offers. She shrugged. "Okay." Maybe if she stayed here, she could figure out where she was and how to get back home.

_A/N: Sorry again for the long wait! I have been soooooo busy with school that I haven't had time for anything else. Between the major tests, homework, and work, I feel like I haven't had a proper break in so long. But it's finally spring break! YAY! Maybe I'll get the chance to write more! Or at least catch up on the overwhelming amount of homework that I'm behind on…anyway, I have a question for my readers. As you've probably noticed, this chapter is written in 3__rd__ person rather than in 1__st__. I feel as though I write better (aka more coherently) in 3__rd__ than I do in 1__st__. What do you guys think? Should I continue to write in 1__st__ person or should I switch to 3__rd__ full time? Let me know which you guys like better! And I'll try my best to write more often! Thanks for sticking with me!_


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